Procedural law

Procedural law sets the rules for enforcing legal rights and duties, including how disputes are brought, heard, proved, and resolved.

Substantive law: Law that defines rights, duties, offenses, and liabilities. It supplies the rights and duties that procedural rules enforce.
Pleading: A formal statement of a party’s claims or defenses in a lawsuit. Pleadings define the dispute that later procedural stages address.
Civil procedure: Rules governing noncriminal lawsuits, from filing through judgment and enforcement. It is the principal procedural framework for private disputes.
Alternative dispute resolution: Methods of resolving disputes outside ordinary court litigation, including mediation and arbitration. These methods replace or supplement formal court proceedings.
Jurisdiction: A court’s legal authority to hear a case and issue decisions. Procedural rules determine how parties invoke and challenge a court’s authority.
Discovery (law): The pretrial process through which parties obtain relevant information and evidence from one another. Discovery develops the evidence on which claims and defenses will be tested.
Criminal procedure: Rules governing investigation, prosecution, trial, and punishment of criminal offenses. It regulates the state’s enforcement of criminal law against individuals.
Arbitration: A private dispute-resolution process in which an arbitrator issues a decision. It uses procedures chosen by agreement or statute rather than ordinary courtroom rules.
Standing: The legal requirement that a party have a sufficient stake in a dispute to bring a claim. It limits who may initiate proceedings to enforce a claimed right.
Motion (law): A formal request asking a court to make a ruling or order. Motions let parties seek procedural or substantive decisions before judgment.

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Conflict of lawsRelated: Courts commonly apply their own procedural rules even when another jurisdiction’s substantive law governs.